The Pillars of the Ancient Greek World

Western history, also called western civilization, is an ongoing historical endeavor by which a particular society constructs and explores its own unique past. It is the product of human interaction with other beings and with the environment. It contains elements of both the ancient and the modern world. It has contributed to the human psyche, as well as to the political and social progress of mankind. In this paper, we will study this topic in some detail.

Western history, by definition, refers to the period of time spanning from the decline of the Roman and Greek empires to the birth of the religions based on monotheism in the 7th century. It is related to the classical period, which saw the rise of medieval Christendom that arose in the Middle Ages from the ashes of the Roman Empire. The study of this Western history prepares one for the challenge posed by studying the subject in general.

The most developed periods of Western history can be divided into four: The classical period, which witnessed the rise of western civilization through the classical period; the Hellenistic period, which was the period of development of the ancient Greco-Roman world; the Renaissance, which was the flowering of renaissance architecture and a period when great minds were attracted by the works of the artists and scholars of the period; and the Middle Ages, which witnessed a crumbling of the western civilization during the Dark Ages. It can be argued that all these four periods constitute the core of Western history, together with its sub-periods, the Modern period, the post feudal period and the Renaissance period. During each of these eras, various civilizations rose to influence the classical ones, the Hellenistic and the Renaissance periods respectively.

The rise of western civilization can be traced back to the ancient greece. According to several historians, Athens and Rome were the inspirations for the classical and medieval periods of western history. Some of the most notable civilizations of the classical period such as the Egyptian civilization, the Babylonians and the Romans rose to influence the younger civilizations of the world.

The ancient greek civilization, on the other hand, is known to have been founded by a large group of philosophers who migrated to the country after the disintegration of the ancient Greek city-state. This group included many of the wandering thinkers and poets of the times. Under the influence of the ancient greek philosophers, Western men of the modern era were able to develop the concepts of individual rights, private property, liberal government and constitutional monarchy. The great Greek philosophers – Plato, Aristotle and Socrates, wrote extensively on ancient Greek civilization and gave birth to the concepts of democracy, egalitarianism and the rule of the great philosophers.

The modern-day state of Greece was forged during the last stages of the Hellenistic period, a period which began approximately at the start of the 3rd century BC and ended with the fall of the Roman Empire. It was a period which saw the rise of one of the most prominent philosophies of all time – Roman Philosophy. This can be credited to the efforts of the native Athenian democracy – the period in which Athens struggled to remain free from the control of the rest of the region through its influential intervention in affairs of diplomacy. Its lasting impact on the development of western civilization can be traced in the fact that it inspired the great philosophers – Montesquieu, Conde, Descartes and Malebranche. One of the most significant characteristics of modern Greek society is its enormous political influence, especially in Europe and the United States. Greek art, architecture, music and literature also influenced the development of the modern world.